MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based DQ Entertainment (DQE), the animation, gaming, live action entertainment production and distribution company, has appointed SMC Entertainment as its rights partner in North America, Australia and South Africa.

With the appointment, SMC has acquired all North American TV, home entertainment, licensing and merchandising rights, as well as all promotional rights to the 52 x 11‘ episode CGI-animated Jungle Book television series along with a one-hour feature from DQ Entertainment International.

Said DQE Chairman and CEO Tapaas Chakravarti, "The success of our TV series The Jungle Book is validated by the quality of partners it has attracted globally. From licensing for TV broadcast to merchandising across a varied range of products, the property has met with huge success and appealed to a new generation of children across all nationalities. 

"We are delighted with the partnership with SMC for North America and South Africa and are convinced that they will do justice to this iconic brand. I am sure our beloved Jungle Book will see new highs in the hands of our new and able partners."

In addition, SMC has acquired the master toy rights for Australia and New Zealand and licensing and merchandising rights of for The Jungle Book for South Africa. The company would market the series at Kidscreen Summit and the New York Toy Fair in February 2012.

SMC Entertainment (SMC) is the recently launched entertainment and brand management division of global consumer products manufacturer Sun-Mate Corporation.

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate News Corp chairman, CEO Rupert Murdoch has announced that John Hartigan will step down as News Limited chairman, CEO. He will leave the company on 30 November 2011.

Murdoch said, "John‘s decision will end a distinguished 41 year career with News in which he has given us exemplary service and incredible leadership".

"John was an outstanding reporter, an editor with few peers and has been an inspiring executive, initially as Group Editorial Director and, later, as chief executive for 11 years and chairman and chief executive for the past six.

"Few people have contributed as much as John to the quality of journalism in Australia. He has earned enormous respect among both colleagues and competitors."

Murdoch also praised Hartigan‘s leadership of a long running campaign to defend the public‘s right to know how it is governed and how courts dispense justice.

"Few people have done as much as John to campaign on the public‘s behalf to uphold freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Australia. I thank John for having contributed so much to our company and applaud his great integrity, immense journalistic talent and inspirational leadership".

Hartigan joined the company in Sydney in 1970 as a reporter on The Daily Mirror, and, later, The Daily Telegraph. He went on to work for The Sun in London and the New York Post.

After returning to Australia, Hartigan became Editor of Queensland‘s Sunday Sun, and later the founding Editor of the Brisbane metropolitan daily, The Daily Sun, and a director of Queensland Sun Newspapers.

In 1986 Hartigan was appointed Editor of The Daily Telegraph, and three years later was promoted to Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. In 1997 Hartigan was appointed Group Editorial Director, the company‘s most senior editorial position responsible for of all of the company‘s newspapers.

He was appointed News Limited CEO in 2000 and Chairman and CEO in 2005.

In recent years Hartigan has delivered numerous speeches on the future of journalism at industry conferences and at the National Press Club. In 2007 he delivered the ABC‘s Andrew Olle Lecture to great acclaim and in 2006 he delivered the Australian National University‘s Reconciliation Lecture, calling for new approaches to solving indigenous disadvantage and the need for better education and employment opportunities for indigenous Australians.

In 2007 Hartigan led the formation of a media coalition "Australia‘s Right to Know" which has successfully campaigned for changes in legislation to improve the openness and transparency of government and the courts.

In 2008 Hartigan joined a small group of journalists to be awarded the Walkley Award for Journalistic Leadership.

MUMBAI: The hair is big but the drama is bigger in the newest installment of the ?Real Housewives? franchise.

?The Real Housewives of New Jersey? kicks off on Zee Caf? from 8 November.

The show will air Monday-Friday at 9 pm.

For the first time in the franchises history, the ladies are more than just friends ?joining the cast are two sisters, who are married to two brothers ? and one sister ?in ? law, ringing a whole new level of familial drama to the table.

While the family remains a priority for each of these women, their shopping, decorating, dating and even fighting are all over the top. The five housewives featured on the programme were Teresa Giudice, Jacqueline Laurita, Caroline Manzo, Dina Manzo, and Danielle Staub.

?The Real Housewives of New Jersey? is a reality television programme on US cable network Bravo which originally followed the lives of five women in and around several upscale communities in Northern New Jersey.

It is the network?s fourth installation of The Real Housewives series, following ?The Real Housewives of Orange County?, ?The Real Housewives of New York City? and ?The Real Housewives of Atlanta?.

For the first time in the franchise, the series follows housewives who are related to one another: sisters Caroline and Dina are married to brothers Albert and Tommy Manzo, and Jacqueline Laurita is married to Caroline and Dina?s brother, Chris Laurita.

MUMBAI: What makes high heels a cultural icon? Why does the little black dress resonate in our culture? And what are the little known facts behind the evolution of the bikini?

Love/Lust takes everyday items of desire, and deconstructs them to unpack the historical, social and pop culture events that made these the icons they are today. The show kicks off on 7 November and will air every Monday at 8 pm on lifestyle channel TLC.

Each one-hour episode will unravel the origin and evolution of various fashion items that we love and lust. Blending visual elements with the perspectives of professional commentators and public personalities, the show will aim to deliver an account of how life?s cultural innovations progressed from novelty to ubiquity.

Discovery India VP marketing Rajiv Bakshi said, "Presenting an entire gamut of lifestyle programming from travel, cuisine to fashion, TLC is India?s ultimate lifestyle destination. Love/Lust is an in-depth analysis of iconic elements of fashion with in a fascinating narrative."

The show stitches up the story of the little black dress, revealing how a series of events helped transform an emblem of rebellion into a wardrobe warhorse. The story punctuated with the commentary of numerous fashion insiders, including designer Vera Wang; author and Barneys New York creative ambassador Simon Doonan; and fashion historian Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

Subsequent episodes of Love/Lust will continue the inquiry with episodes devoted to the bikini, high heels and make-up.